Comments:British constable may be prosecuted for manslaughter

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Why not murder?

Why not a murder charge? The test for murder in England and Wales (as with Scotland and prob. NI as well) is that they either sought to kill without just cause or didn't care if they killed. Based on the footage, I rather doubt the cuntstable constable cared. He certainly aimed to seriously hurt the man; if we follow this through, murder should be a charge that can be proved since anyone who intends serious harm cannot possibly be concerned for the life of the individual concerned. I know Scotland automaticaly charges every murder with an alternative culpable homicide charge (broadly equivelant to manslaughter); while I don't know if England and Wales does this, it can be done individually so there is no loss with a murder charge, and I suspect a conviction would be very easy to obtain. I should point out that I have a lawyer in my family, a former Procurator Fiscal at that, so I know what I'm talking about here. Blood Red Sandman ^{(Talk) (Contribs)} 20:45, 5 August 2009 (UTC)

Although I hope the constable gets what he deserves, in reality all he did was push the man, not shoot him. I don't think it would be fair to anybody to charge them with murder if they pushed someone and it happened to kill them. However, that being said, the police behaved extremely violently and unreasonably during these protests, and I hope that there is enough public outcry to stop such tactics as "kettling" from happening again.Soapy (talk) 15:57, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

The charges should be dropped. I don't know what killed the guy, but it wasn't being pushed to the ground or struck in the legs. --SVTCobra 17:16, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

Whether or not his actions contributed to the guy's death is exactly what the trial's for. The charges are based on the fact he attacked him and he later died. Incidentally IIRC the coroner (the second one) concluded that the two may have been related. With all due respect, I think their opinion (and their access to the information they based it on) might count for more than yours.--Bisected8 (talk) 16:29, 7 August 2009 (UTC)